Vic Mackey
Referee
- Messages
- 25,644
I'm a bit both ways with this. There's no doubt to me that souths get piggy backed out of trouble more then anyone else. A perfect example was last week against the roosters when down 12-0 and going nowhere. 4th tackle 30m out from their line, Pearce roughs walker up in a tackle, same thing had happened nearly every tackle of the game, walker gets up and throws a hissy fit. Penalty souths. A few tackles later another penalty from a tackle that again looked no different to any other. Souths score on the next set and are back in the game.
Not in any way do I believe their is some 'souths conspiracy.' Do I think that occasionally refs get caught up in the 'romance' of souths doing well, possibly. It does seem that every time a burgess brother drops a ball 9/10 they get a penalty, then on replay about 7/10 they've dropped it cold. This could be because he is a big name player and souths are currently a dominant team. The refs will always go with who is seen as the 'better' team/player in 50/50 calls.
At the start of the year the ruck speed was changed and souths struggled. Wrestling was taken out of the game to an extent and their big forwards couldn't keep up. They got belted by wests and Canberra who finished in the bottom 4.
Then the ruck speed went back to normal. This wasn't to help ouths, it's the same as any other 'crackdown' is policed for 4-6 weeks then forgotten about. Again it suited souths big pack. They have big aggressive forwards who run hard and don't submit in tackles. This means that they need to be held down longer by opposition teams to get an advantage. On The counter souths wrestling means they can hold down teams longer in the ruck. Again this isn't souths fault, the refs allowed the ruck to be slowed down which suits their game.
The last 2 years I truly believe the refs got souths to a much higher position on the ladder then they deserved. This year I do believe they are a genuine premiership team, whether they are getting help from the officials or not.
Not in any way do I believe their is some 'souths conspiracy.' Do I think that occasionally refs get caught up in the 'romance' of souths doing well, possibly. It does seem that every time a burgess brother drops a ball 9/10 they get a penalty, then on replay about 7/10 they've dropped it cold. This could be because he is a big name player and souths are currently a dominant team. The refs will always go with who is seen as the 'better' team/player in 50/50 calls.
At the start of the year the ruck speed was changed and souths struggled. Wrestling was taken out of the game to an extent and their big forwards couldn't keep up. They got belted by wests and Canberra who finished in the bottom 4.
Then the ruck speed went back to normal. This wasn't to help ouths, it's the same as any other 'crackdown' is policed for 4-6 weeks then forgotten about. Again it suited souths big pack. They have big aggressive forwards who run hard and don't submit in tackles. This means that they need to be held down longer by opposition teams to get an advantage. On The counter souths wrestling means they can hold down teams longer in the ruck. Again this isn't souths fault, the refs allowed the ruck to be slowed down which suits their game.
The last 2 years I truly believe the refs got souths to a much higher position on the ladder then they deserved. This year I do believe they are a genuine premiership team, whether they are getting help from the officials or not.